1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is methods and devices for applying a cement or a solvent to one or the other of two mating tubular members prior to and for the purpose of bonding the members together.
2. Description of the Prior art
Various methods and devices have been proposed for applying a cement or a solvent to the interior or exterior surface of a portion of a tubular member prior to joining the tubular member with a mating tubular member.
For example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,498,866 and 3,523,852, apparatus for applying cement to the exterior surface of a tubular member are disclosed. Also a method for solvent sealing plastic seams is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,047, and a method for solvent welding plastic pipe joints is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,983.
In solvent bonding or welding only a small amount of solvent is needed to soften and dissolve or "melt" the surface area to be bonded. Accordingly, and as will be explained in detail hereinafter, the device of the present invention provides a pumping mechanism which is manually operated and spring biased for dispensing a metered amount of solvent. Heretofore manually operated, spring biased dispensers for dispensing a metered amount of a liquid have been proposed. See, for example the dispenser disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,756,905 and 3,078,471.
However, heretofore, a manually operated device including an applicator post for supplying a metered amount of solvent to the interior surface of a portion of a tubular member to be bonded to a mating tubular member has not been proposed.